In March, as you know, we will be running a tournament of sorts. I would like to take some time and explain the schedule and the rules:
There will be a play-in game on Feb 27 between Truman Madsen and Lowell Bennion for the honor of being slaughtered by Joseph Smith.

The Round of 32 will commence on the 13th and will run from the 13th to the 16th.

The Sweet Sixteen will play on the 20th and the 21st.

The Elite Eight will play on the 23rd and the 24th

The Final Four will take place on the 27th and 28th.

The Championship Game will take place on the 29th.

Each match will be decided by a 24 hour blogpoll, which opens at 10:00am MST on the day of the match. After 24 hours, the poll will close and the winner will be declared.

There will be a prize given to the most accurate bracket received. The winner will receive their choice of: an “Obey Aaron” t-shirt, a “Monkey-Steals-the-Peach” t-shirt, a “Mormon Archipelago” t-shirt, or a “Feminist Mormon Housewives” t-shirt. The use of these t-shirts doesn’t necessarily imply the approval of the process by the websites with which these t-shirts are typically associated.

All interested in entering a bracket should email their completed bracket to faithpromotingrumor at gmail.com or should mail it to me (contact me for the address) prior to the first.

Finally, David J, our intrepid handicapper, will be offering his predictions for the brackets some time this weekend. Please use his advice wisely (but remember that gambling is a no-no).

2 responses to “March Mormon Doctrine Madness: The Rules”

Did that get your attention? Good. No, the bloggers here at FPR have no control over who wins what in this year’s March smackdown, BUT YOU DO! That’s why we’ve decided to offer little bits n pieces of help… some help may give you the leg up in your ward/branch MMDM pools. But alas, as with all sorts of predictions, many of these will be wrong (incidentally, David J was 67% correct for the 05-06 NFL regular season predictions, FWIW), so use this information at your own risk. Now let’s play ball!

Bracket 1
1. Sort of a no-brainer here — Joseph Smith will go far, and most likely take that bracket, as long as our readers vote honestly! But even if they don’t, expect him to go very far. No write-ins please.

2. On the play-in, expect the match to be close, but the intellectual left almost invariably seems to lose out to the right among Mormons, so I see Madsen beating out Bennion, much to this predictor’s dismay.

3. Temple Building will also rear its ugly head, vanquishing most of its foes along the way. Expect good things from temple building.

4. Watch out for #11 — restored priesthood authority. Many former missionaries who will be voting found the third discussion their favorite, and I expect that to reflect in some of the voting in bracket 1 as well.

Bracket 2

1. Brigham Young — can the man be stopped? He builds cities, crosses plains, designs buildings, grows long beards, marries many wives… and takes bracket 2!

2. Watch out for Hugh Nibley outside the perimeter. Although the ‘nacle has some arduous FARMS-haters, I still think the man’s influence will hold sway here. RIP Brother Nibley.

4. Proclamation Regarding the Family should also make its way very far.

Bracket 3

1. Don’t expect BRM to win. This is the trap in this bracket.

2. The Book of Mormon is a good pick.

3. Also conferences will be a good sneak-play.

Bracket 4

1. As much as I’d like to see the Bible win this one, I think the best pick here is Gordon Hinckley. He’s done more for the salvation of man in this world than save Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Joseph Smith, and Brigham… did I forget someone?

2. The Bible will make a strong presence, though, don’t get me wrong.

3. 3 Degrees of Glory will also make its way up quite far.

4. Sneak-play: the KFD. C’mon, come out of the closet and admit you love it and vote for it! Just kidding. I see good things for the KFD.